School's bid delay - Re-think after rule change
By Jo Deeks on Thursday, 21st October 1999.
A SCHOOL's bid for technology status has been put back to next spring, but hopes are still high the cash needed can be raised.
Samuel Ward Upper School in Haverhill launched a scheme in May to attract almost £400,000 in extra funding, and planned to make a bid this month.
Headteacher Peter Roberts said rules of the Technology College Trust had changed over the summer so the sum the school needed to raise from local sponsorship was reduced from £100,000 to £50,000.
Although this sounded like good news, in fact the change meant that cash had to be provided up front, rather than just as a commitment for the future.
Mr Roberts said this made the task more difficult, particularly as many firms had to get sponsorship approved by a head office outside of Haverhill.
However, £20,000 has already been raised and Mr Roberts plans to seek the help of the Haverhill Enterprise 2000 group at its relaunch next month to find the rest of the backing.
If its bid succeeds, the school will provide a science and technology base for all the schools in the Haverhill area and adults in the community.
Mr Roberts said he believed it was very much in employer's own interests to support the scheme, which would help provide them with staff who had the skills they needed, particularly for high level information technology work.
"The support has been more enthusiastic than we would have imagined, but because the goal posts have been moved we are not going to be ready to bid this time," he said.
"We plan to make a bid in the next round in March and we believe we have a strong economic argument to put forward.
If we could get 10 Haverhill companies to put forward £1,000 in the first year and £1,000 the following year, we would be there."
Anyone able to support the school's bid, with amounts large or small, should ring (01440) 761511.
Samuel Ward Upper School in Haverhill launched a scheme in May to attract almost £400,000 in extra funding, and planned to make a bid this month.
Headteacher Peter Roberts said rules of the Technology College Trust had changed over the summer so the sum the school needed to raise from local sponsorship was reduced from £100,000 to £50,000.
Although this sounded like good news, in fact the change meant that cash had to be provided up front, rather than just as a commitment for the future.
Mr Roberts said this made the task more difficult, particularly as many firms had to get sponsorship approved by a head office outside of Haverhill.
However, £20,000 has already been raised and Mr Roberts plans to seek the help of the Haverhill Enterprise 2000 group at its relaunch next month to find the rest of the backing.
If its bid succeeds, the school will provide a science and technology base for all the schools in the Haverhill area and adults in the community.
Mr Roberts said he believed it was very much in employer's own interests to support the scheme, which would help provide them with staff who had the skills they needed, particularly for high level information technology work.
"The support has been more enthusiastic than we would have imagined, but because the goal posts have been moved we are not going to be ready to bid this time," he said.
"We plan to make a bid in the next round in March and we believe we have a strong economic argument to put forward.
If we could get 10 Haverhill companies to put forward £1,000 in the first year and £1,000 the following year, we would be there."
Anyone able to support the school's bid, with amounts large or small, should ring (01440) 761511.
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